Chris L Martino Portfolio

CHRISTOPHER L. MARTINO, RLA PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO

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Preface

My first job right out of college was working for a private landscape architecture firm. Our biggest client was a real estate arm of Duke Energy, one of the biggest power companies in the southeast region of the United States. Most of the land that they owned was waterfront property created by damming the Catawba River in 1963, which instantly created 520 miles of shoreline. Duke Energy was sitting on a goldmine. They decided that it was in their best interest to develop a real estate arm for their company to take advantage of all the waterfront property that they had created and they called themselves “Crescent Resources LLC”. These high end communities were a large scope of my work for eight years and thus my career had begun. I worked my way up the ladder and became the primary land planning expert for Oldham Planning & Design. My role was to meet with the client, determine their desired product, create an outline plan, submit plans to the city for approval, detail design the open space areas, and administrate the construction of the project to completion. I eventually took the LARE exam and became a Registered Landscape Architect. I became the lead project manager of a green community called “The Sanctuary”. It would be my most notable community to date due to its environmentally sensitive nature.

Over the years, I have been specifically involved in a wide variety of Landscape Architecture services tailored to assist clients and developers in creating holistically themed, master planned and amenity rich residential mixed use communities. My career has been rich with experience both on the private side working for a firm servicing clients as well the experience of working directly for the developer.

Although my career has followed the urban land community planning route quite extensively, I’ve also gained experience planning office parks, commercial/retail, city parks, golf courses, swim and tennis clubs, urban infill’s, and private residential designs running my own design build firm.

More recently, I was the Director of Land Planning for a large developer of residential communities where I was immediately tasked with designing two large master planned communities over 1000 Parcels in size with elaborate resort style amenities. Under my direction, our planning department created resort getaways with top notch amenities from concept to construction build-out. While all along, working with the sales and marketing team to assist them in creating maps and presentations in order to promote the lifestyles that our communities offer. Our sales teams frequently host grand openings and wine and cheese events where I would give presentations on the thoughtful design of each community and why it will be the best place for their families to live and experience.

Over the course of 14 years, I have been involved in an abundance of master planning projects. Since I’ve come to Lethbridge, I have started master planning two large communities, one is The Canyons and the other is Garry Station, Both of these projects are very broad in their scope and seem to feel more connected to the existing and future growth within the city of Lethbridge. I’m pleased to be as closely involved with the so many different disciplines under one roof as I feel it is paramount in expanding ones knowledge base and becoming a more well-rounded planner. I like that I am more involved in master planning not just what you see, but everything you don’t see, such as storm water and underground services. I’ve always been involved as a consultant to the other practices on every each and every project I’ve ever done but usually we are working independently of one another for the most part. With this said, I believe that we are truly master planning these neighborhoods because we have all the services under one roof and we are designing together as one cohesive unit.

I am proud of the career path I’ve chosen and will continue to promote and teach landscape architecture everywhere my travels take me. I will continue to be proud of the aesthetically pleasing force of change I bring to the lives of people.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… I

A. MASTER PLANNING …………………………………………………………………………………… 3

B. DESIGN DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................... 9

C. DETAILED DESIGN ……………………………………………………………………………………… 14

APPENDICES

A. Resume and Project Experience B. Recent – Canyons wild park working drawing set C. Past Working Drawings Sets


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A. MASTER PLANNING

Work entailed in the master planning stage of any project is an amazing transformation as it starts with a blank canvas and concludes with the ability to create environments that are at once beautiful, sustainable and timeless. In this stage we are thinking about strategic placement, scale or relative size, location, proximity and functional relationship. We are after all, shaping people’s lives one space and time.

Site Inventory and Analysis

The first step in any project design is the Site Inventory and Analysis phase. I often find that a quick preliminary site analysis is done while writing proposals to make sure we have a good understanding of the scope of work that needs to be included. As the project gets underway, a base map is created which includes inventory of all factors that affect the project such as utilities, natural features, connectivity to adjacent properties in roadways, wetlands, soils and tree cover. These are just a few of the factors i study to get an overall big picture of the project site and parameters before beginning to design.

Example of a slope analysis

Waterbridge Community is a large coastal luxury resort community in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I was the lead landscape architect throughout this project and before we started the outline plan, we performed a site analysis including location of wetland preserves, protected Greenway corridors, location of wooded areas and 200’ wide animal corridor to name a few. We also researched adjacent property uses and studied the local development guidelines for the Carolina Forest Overlay regional master plan which are projects land was located in.


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Site Inventory and Analysis (Cont.)

The Pointe on Lake Norman located in Morrisville, NC is a community of around 900 homes surrounded on all sides by Lake Norman. The project site underwent an extensive inventory and site analysis on account of water and sanitary service is not being available as well as traffic studies due to the one way in and out of this peninsula of land on the existing two lane road. Soil studies and Perk tests were done to test filtration of soils to aid in selecting the best locations for septic field systems and well sites. Unmarked gravesites were also found during the geotechnical report which had to be removed properly. The man-made lake used for nuclear power also created its challenges for us in terms of permitting and regulation. Private docks and common slips had to be approved at the federal level. We provided a site analysis of where all the locations for shallow water fish habitat were located in and around the coves. There was a watershed buffer around the entire site that we mapped out and honored. Every time we started a new phase, we entered into a new site inventory and analysis phase .


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Cutter Bay was a project located near historic New Bern, NC in a town called Stonewall named after stonewall Jackson from the American Civil War. Like many communities that I have master planned, their locations seemed to always be remote and without services thus we found ourselves pioneering a new region and providing water and sewer too high end luxury communities that were used to modern day conveniences. This included providing a waste water treatment plant onsite which required very careful planning and detailed site inventory and analysis. Picking the best spot for a treatment plant so that it was screened properly from the residential component was a challenge as well as providing infiltration basins for gray water storage and irrigation use.


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Program Development

The Sanctuary on Lake Wylie was a project in Charlotte NC that required a very sensitive program development in order to develop this property alongside the National Audubon Society in order to protect the national wildlife and develop this residential community as a low impact development. The design specified a generous variety of lot sizes from two (2) to thirteen (13) acres in order to protect Woodlands and the ecosystems that live within their canopies. Ten years prior, this land was slated to be a high density mixed-use development but attracted opposition and never gained momentum. Our client purchased this property and decided to approach the market differently and provide the green sustainable type of living that home buyers craved. We planned extensively and put checks in place to ensure that wildlife was protected and honored. Knowing that a large portion of the wildlife resides in the forest edge we made sure that our programming required homeowners to reestablish their woodland edge after clearing for their home sites. This and many other guidelines were established and written into the architectural guidelines for the community. The design and development of The Sanctuary did not follow the standard zoning guidelines put forth by the city of Charlotte. Thus a developer’s agreement was drafted and submitted under a planned unit development zoning (PUD). This agreement provides special allowances for items that don’t currently show up in the city zoning categories. A program was created called a “flexible signage package” throughout the community to provide special design accommodations in one complete package for the city to review, comment

and approve. Many cities have standard street signs and light poles that they would like to see. The sanctuary was special and that we wanted all site furniture to blend seamlessly into the environment in order to take on a park like feel. This and many other components of the sanctuary were created in the program development to allow the approving agency a sense of comfort in the overall design package, neighborhood sustainability, and

protection of the National Resources.


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Program Development (Cont.)

Waterbridge in Myrtle Beach, SC was designed by our team, as a private gated community with architectural programming set in place to ensure that the overall design intent for the community is followed and protected even when the developer is no longer in the picture. Dwellings are to be designed by professionals and a Builders guild is even established and provided to potential home buyers. Each home plays an integral part in creating that desired character of the community and as such should be carefully considered in terms of its relationship to its lot, to adjacent homes, and to the greater good of the neighborhood. Each proposed design should complement the architecture of the community and be additive to the streetscape through its faithful representation of the "Coastal Cottage" style, respectful scaling and siting, and the use of enduring high quality materials. I was the lead Landscape Architect heavily involved in the development of these guidelines and pattern books. All of the communities that we designed were protected by program guidelines and we always provided consultation to the architecture firm tasked with creating these documents.


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Master Planning

Over the course of 14 years, I have been involved in an abundance of master planning projects. Since I’ve come to Lethbridge, I have started master planning two large communities, one is The Canyons and the other is Garry Station, Both of these projects are very broad in their scope and seem to feel more connected to the existing and future growth within the city of Lethbridge. I’m pleased to be as closely involved with the so many different disciplines under one roof as I feel it is paramount in expanding ones knowledge base and becoming a more well-rounded planner. I like that I am more involved in master planning not just what you see, but everything you don’t see, such as storm water and underground services. I’ve always been involved as a consultant to the other practices on every each and every project I’ve ever done but usually we are working independently of one another for the most part. With this said, I believe that we are truly master planning these neighborhoods because we have all the services under one roof and we are designing together as one cohesive unit.

Report Writing

Over the years most of my report writing consisted of homeowner association documents such as development guidelines, pattern books, architectural guidelines, etc. I was always involved from the very beginning at my first job providing figure’s and illustrations for these documents and as I grew as a landscape architect I began writing more copy and reports to assist the developer in creating a community where the design intent is realized by the buyers and thus protected for years to come and subsequently to help the homeowners understand the design spirit intended for the community so that they had a plan set in place to preserve the place they chose to set roots in and to enjoy for years to come with their families.

We also prepared community newsletters and marketing pieces that are distributed throughout the communities as an information vessel to spread awareness of specific items that are affecting their lives. They are marketing pieces for sure, but they are also ways to inform people of what’s going on in and around their community. As you can see my writing spreads across the spectrum of reports such as covenants and restrictions for neighborhoods to marketing style newsletters.


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B. DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Conceptual Design

Conceptual design is the beginning of any design process where thoughts are translated loosely onto paper with more thought put into relationships and functions, shapes and sizes rather than details and factual information. The idea is to brainstorm ideas that come to mind and quickly draw them on paper. Below find some rough concept examples of various design elements that I’ve been involved in over the years and some very recent.

The Point Nantucket Village Initial Concept Sketch

The Point Village Final Layout


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Conceptual Design (Cont)

Below are some concept sketches for the canyons wild park showing landscape features and ideas that we compiled into a vision brief for our client and for the city of Lethbridge.

Canyons Wild Park Entrance Concept

Canyons Wild Park Overlook Concept

Canyons Wild Park Rammed Earth Bike Hills Concept


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Preliminary Cost Estimates

Preliminary cost estimates are essential to see if the proposed design is feasible. In addition it is always a good idea to cross check prices with the current design in order to confirm budgets are in line. This gives the client the opportunity at an early stage to adjust his budgets to either approve more detail or make decisions to stay on target. Below find some more recent preliminary cost estimate examples for the Canyons Wild Park as well as the Gary Station subdivision.


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Presentation Techniques

Over the last 13 years, I have produced sales and marketing material for Grand Openings, Wine and Cheese Investor Parties, Public Open Houses, City Council Meetings, Coffee Table Books, Home Buyer Packages, Sales Center Master Plan Illustratives, and 3D virtual DVD sales videos. Below are examples of all the presentations that were done in the past and recently.

Summerhouse Virtual 3D Design of Clubhouse and Pool

Watercolor Renderings of Cutter Bay, in New Bern, NC


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Presentation Techniques (Cont)

Springfield is located in fort mill South Carolina and was developed around an existing golf course with a considerable amount of terrain to overcome. Here are some examples of renderings I created for this development project.


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C. DETAILED DESIGN

Working drawings sets of the Canyons Wild Park, The Sanctuary “John J Audubon Lodge”, and the Cutter Bay Amenity Package can be found in Appendix C.

Site drainage and grading

Every site and every feature must consider drainage and grading. Positive drainage is a key component to any designs success.

Many of the projects that I’ve been involved in include man-made lakes on the interior of the communities. This type of feature requires tremendous forethought into grading and water management. The key is to

balance the site so that walls are minimized and hauling of dirt is kept to a minimum which can be very expensive. Waterbridge in Myrtle Beach South Carolina is an example of this as you can see in the site plan below; we have created a contiguous central lake, approximately 36 acres in size which is wide enough to provide movement and ensure water quality .


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Site drainage and grading (Cont)

Another project, Summerhouse located in Holly Ridge, NC featured a 60 acre central lake along with several other smaller ponds used for infiltration of gray water from a waste water treatment plant. I worked as project manager on this and consulted with the civil engineer on this project in order to disperse this large amount of dirt appropriately across the site while still maintaining tree save areas for parks. This was a very difficult task since the properties were almost at sea level and the ground water table was extremely close to the surface.

The sanctuary was a very innovative project in that it followed a low impact development guideline set forth by the city of Charlotte. The low impact development practices used were ditch section streets instead of curb and gutter, rain gardens, increased watershed buffer and only 12% impervious cover for the entire project site.

As you can see in the drawing below we used scupper holes on

the sides of the driveway to allow water to

escape from the drive and into overland swales which eventually ended up in retention basins and rain gardens like the one you see in the picture above. I also provided a grading design for six bays of tennis courts to make the best use of existing site grades and minimize the use of walls.


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Site Layout

Site layout is performed in all projects in many different ways. Roads, Parcels, Site Furniture, Playgrounds, Parking Lots, Sports Fields, Swim and Tennis Facilities, Clubhouses, pathways, etc all require strategic thinking on where they are placed in relationship to the rest of the project. Site layout examples can be seen in Appendix C Working Drawings Sets.

Landscape Structures

The sanctuary entrance monuments as seen below, take on a rustic lodge type feel with handcrafted bronze artwork attached to them. If these monuments serve as the gateway to this community and set the tone architecturally for what will be seen as you explore the rest of this master planned community. These entrances were built with boulders loosely laid at the base transitioning into a more structured monument with native plantings all around. These large monuments are truly stunning an absolutely beautiful when lit up after dark. I worked closely with the craftsmen to create the bronze leaf artwork.

Another feature I designed in The Sanctuary community was a beautiful stone amphitheatre for outdoor gathering and class settings. This is a very attractive feature located just off the Eastside of the camp lodge and his part of the overall camp experience. The view from the seating looks out onto Lake Wylie. Please refer to Appendix C for working drawings


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Landscape Structures (Cont)

Stratford on providence also hosts an elaborate entrance monument that I designed which incorporates a curved central feature which is different than most monuments you’ll see regularly in the Charlotte region. The southern Magnolia trees located behind are framed in by this curved wall. This gated entry feature was one of my earlier designs.

The point on Lake Norman features a Nantucket style village with a central commons lawn used for recreational activities. Featured inside in the commons lawn is an obelisk monument at the eastern edge with trellis curving around the outside trail. This is a very dramatic focal point for residents to enjoy.


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Landscape Structures (Cont)

The largest community recreational pool in the southeast region was designed and built in Waterbridge. I was the lead designer in creating this magnificent pool. This pool has many innovative features to brag about. The junior Olympic size pool is connected by a channel that leads to the main pool area. There is also a fire pit in the middle of the pool which is accessed by a recessed walkway. On the other side of the pool there is a hot spa that is also projected out into the middle of the pool. The restaurant was designed with a removable wall that connects to an outdoor dining area poolside. There’s also a swim up bar which features a recreational space complete with billiards and fire pit.


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Planting design

Here are some examples of planting design that I’ve done over the years. Also please see the Canyons Wild Park working drawing set in Appendix C for examples of current planting design.

Career

Chris L Martino Portfolio